Bush-Era Dragnet Memos Show 'Virtually Unlimited' Presidential Power

[Judi Lynn]

Published on Saturday, September 06, 2014
by Common Dreams

Bush-Era Dragnet Memos Show 'Virtually Unlimited' Presidential Power

Constitution gives President power to conduct warrantless searches "even in peacetime," memos claim

by Nadia Prupis, staff writer

The Justice Department on Friday released two legal memos written during the Bush administration justifying the National Security Agency surveillance program that spied on American citizens' phone calls and emails shortly after the terrorist attacks in 2001, the Washington Post reports.

The program, called Stellar Wind, created legal support for mass collection of communications data based solely on Presidential authorization. It allowed the NSA to spy on communications within the U.S. when at least one party was believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, and at least one end of the communication was overseas. Authored by then-Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith, the memos argue that Stellar Wind does not violate Fourth Amendment rights of U.S. citizens because invasion of privacy is outweighed by the government's "interest" in stopping terrorist attacks — and that Article 2 of the Constitution gives the president power to conduct a communications dragnet "even in peacetime."

"Their conclusions are deeply disturbing," ACLU staff attorney Jack Toomey told the Post. "They suggest that the president’s power to monitor the communications of Americans is virtually unlimited — by the Constitution, or by Congress — when it comes to foreign intelligence."

The Post reports:

Goldsmith argued that Congress’s 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed shortly after the al-Qaeda attacks on the United States provided “express authority” for the warrantless program. “In authorizing ‘all necessary and appropriate force,’?” he reasoned, the AUMF necessarily applied to electronic surveillance, including domestically.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/09/06/bush-era-dragnet-memos-show-virtually-unlimited-presidential-power

[grahamhgreen]

1. Looking backwards again? Wait a sec, that's called investigating:)

[Turbineguy]

2. The republicans gave him those powers.

They just never knew that somebody from another party could end up in the White House.

[Scuba]

3. So what happened?

[Bill USA]

4. memos no doubt written by John Yoo. Bush admin booster for Dictatorship. he's nuts.

Just the way the GOP likes 'em.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Judi Lynn.